BBC in firing line as Adams readies his counter-case to killing order allegation
SINN Fein president Gerry Adams has vowed to take action against the BBC over allegations about the murder of an MI5 spy in the IRA.
But Mr Adams refused to say if he will sue over claims levelled in the Spotlight current affairs programme over who sanctioned the killing of Denis Donaldson.
The Republican leader, who has categorically denied the allegation that he had any involvement in ordering the murder, has branded the documentary “nonsense”.
Mr Donaldson, 55, a Sinn Fein official and close colleague of Mr Adams, was shot dead at an isolated cottage near Glenties, in County Donegal, in April 2006, after his exposure.
In a statement, Mr Adams said: “I have been consulting with my lawyers and we will now be taking action against the BBC in relation to the totally false allegation contained within the BBC Spotlight broadcast.”
Mr Adams declined to comment further when pressed if he intends to raise a lawsuit in the courts.
The BBC has defended Spotlight, which was broadcast in Northern Ireland, and said its programme dealt with matters of great public interest.
A spokeswoman said the BBC had “not heard from Mr Adams’s lawyers since the programme was broadcast”.
The claim over who sanctioned Mr Donaldson’s murder was made by an anonymous man, who further claimed that he was also a paid state agent in the IRA.
Dissident Republican group the Real IRA claimed responsibility for the killing in 2009, but the circumstances surrounding Mr Donaldson’s outing as a British agent and his subsequent death have long been shrouded in mystery.